Love Under
by GraphicsGirl
Summary: Shaiden quite likes Kook, maybe she's even growing to love him. But when Kook's platypus girlfriend turns up, will the ninja have a chance with the kookaburra? And will Kook be able to chose between his girlfriend and his crush?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Wotcher Splatafans! Blimey, it's been ages since I wrote a fanfic of any description. This is my first of what I hope to be many Splatalot fanfics, so please bear with me if my writing skills are bad AND if I get the Defenders completely out of character. I mean, I do try.**

**And thanks to my fellow Splatafan Tia for giving me tons of ideas for the fic, literally, she came up with half the ideas.**

**Disclaimer: And I do not own Splatalot.**

The sun shone down on the Splatalot castle. A cool breeze blew across the clear blue sky. The Defenders were preparing for a day of defending the kingdom. Tinkor, Crocness and Shaiden would be defending the moat today, while Kook, Gildar and Thorne worked in the Stockade.

"Hey Gildar! Got yer mirror!"

Well, that was the plan anyway...

Kook was flying around the Stockade with Gildar's mirror, whilst the vain viking chased him. Thorne was trying to ignore them by filling buckets and loading Slime Sticks, but this was easier said than done with the noise they were making.

Gildar was screaming, "GIVE IT BACK! I NEED TO SEE MY HANDSOME REFLECTION!".

"You've stared at it for an hour and a half today already, and it's only nine." Kook said cooly.

"I don't care! I WANT IT BACK!" Gildar screamed with a face like thunder.

"Alright then," Kook said holding out the precious mirror, but just as Gildar's hand was reading clasp round it, the kooky Kookaburra whipped it out of his reach and let out an hystercial laugh. This action resulted in even more shouting from the viking.

"DON'T GIVE ME SASS! I DON'T LIKE THAT!"

"Have a bit of fun for once, mate!"

"I HAVE PLENTY OF FUN!"

"Yeah, brushing yer hair and posing. Not exactly fun-fun."

"GIVE ME THE MIRROR!"

"But-"

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" cried Thorne, throwing down a bucket of slime in fustration, "Kook, give him back his mirror! Gildar, SHUT UP!"

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it!"

"He'll steal my mirror agai-"

"Then swap places with Shaiden! You can go on the moat and she can help defend here!"

With that, Gildar swipped his mirror out of Kook's hand and set of to the moat, muttering something extremely rude. And Thorne ordered Kook to clean up the slime bucket he and Gildar had caused him to throw on the wooden floor of the Stockade.

Kook bent down and muttered. It was quite unfair, he was only trying to have a laugh. At least some good came out of it; Shaiden would be defending alongside him today. He liked Shaiden, perhaps 'liked' was a bit of an understatement, he'd developed a bit of a crush on her. He'd even tried to show her a few times but she never quite seemed to get the message.

Talk of the devil, a ninja shaped shadow had just covered Kookaburra's body. His face burst into one of his signature smiles.

"Thorne, Gildar just stormed up to me in a huff and told me to come here." Shaiden said, not really noticing Kook.

"Yeah, we had a spot of trouble with him and Bird Brain over there, so we had to swap you two round," Thorne said gruffly, and went to check on the Froth Brother.

Shaiden turned and looked at Kook, who has hurried trying to clean the spilled slime. There was still lots of green gunk he had to clean.

"Hey Kook, want some help?" she said kneeling down beside him.

"Aw, yeah, thanks Shaiden. It don't seem to be shifting very well." Kook replied, massaging his slime-covered fingers.

"That'll be Thorne's new formula then. Him and Tinkor are working on it, it's supposed to be harder for Attackers get off, makes them less focused on escaping," Shaiden explained,

Kook's expression after hearing this news was extremely easy to read. It said "What? So how am I gonna clean this then? Oh, Thorne's going to kill me.".

"It's okay Kook, Thorne told me it cleans off after a while, lucky for you he hasn't perfected it yet. Give it a few minutes, it should be easier to get off."

"Ah, thanks Shaiden." Kook said, giving her a smile.

Shaiden felt a small smile forming on her face. Kook always managed to make her smile. She was growing to like him, she'd thought of asking him out once or twice, but she hadn't acted on these thoughts, she just said she'd ask him some other time. She had a thought to ask out Kook right now, but Attackers were already trying to make their way across the moat, she could hear the Splatzookas firing.

Thorne's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "Oi, Shaiden! Stop daydreaming and get ready!"

She glared at her brother and, ignoring his request, and continued helping Kook with the slime. It was hard to shift, but they got it cleaned up within a few minutes.

"Thanks again, Shaiden." Kook said, grabbing a Slime Stick. Shaiden took some Goo Grenades and positioned herself near the water gun.

Thorne, Shaiden and Kookaburra heard the clackson sound for the eight time, the eighth Attacker was running the course. But something was odd, after about twenty seconds, the sound of the Splatzookas and Vapourisers had ceased. Either this Defender was extremely fast or something was wrong. They didn't have to worry long, Crocness entered the Stockade a few minutes later with a young woman with the beak of a platypus.

"Um, Kookaburra, this, well this girl's just turned up in the moat claiming she knows you and wants to see you."

Kook was looking around desperately, trying to look invisable. The sight of this girl had scared out.

"Right, who the heck are you?" Thorne said.

The platypus girl batted her eyelashes and said in a sweet as sugar voice, "I'm Kookaburra's girlfriend."

**A/N: Okay, this is turning out bad, I laugh at my fail-worthy work. There's probably a ton of grammar errors in here. And I swear this platypus girl isn't some Mary-Sue self-insert. If you watched carefully, in one episode of Splatalot, Kook says he has a platypus girlfriend.**

**If you leave a review, I'd love some constructive critism, but I don't want a ton of swears and text speak telling me I'm rubbish, I mean, I know I'm rubbish, but I don't like being reminded. And please ignore any minor spelling errors, I'm going to work on getting those fixed.  
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	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ah, I'm here again, eek. Seriously, I never get past the second chapter in most of the fanfics I write. But hopefully that should change. Oh, thanks so much for the reviews. I appreicate them a lot.**

**And I just want to explain the title of this fic, I would have done so before but I forgot. I wanted to go for something with an Austrialian flavour to it, seeing as Kook is one of the main characters in the fic, and I couldn't think of anything better than "Down Under" which I turned into "Love Under". Yeah, I suck. XD**

**Disclaimer: I clearly don't own Splatalot, seriously, if I did, I'd have commissioned an animated series by now.**

"So tell me again, who the heck are you and what are doing here?" Thorne asked the mysterious platypus girl.

Him, Miss Platypus and the other Defenders were gathered in the room they used for plotting and prep talks. They'd sent the platypus down here to wait while they carried on defending the castle from Attackers, Defenders didn't stop working because of some stranger.

"I told you, my name's Hetty-Ann and I'm Kookaburra's girlfriend. And I thought I'd visit him, he hasn't been to see me for ages,"

Kook was looking around, as if desperately trying to think of something to say. It was odd, considering that Kook always had something to say.

"Awww, it's okay Kooky!" Hetty-Ann said giving him a tight hug, "I know you were just too busy to visit."

"Uhh, yeah, that's exactly why," Kook said.

"So, how long are you staying?" Crocness asked as Hetty released Kook.

"I don't really know yet, umm-"

"Crocness," Kook said and started pointing out the others, "And that's Shaiden -really nice girl-, Ballista, Tinkor -really good mate-, Knightriss- yeah, she always looks like that-, Gildar, Thor-"

"Who's the ugly, dirty brute?" Hetty asked, pointing to Skabb, Knightriss glared at her as if she wanted to break her neck.

"That's Skabb." Kook said hurriedly, noticing the death glare Hetty was reciving and wishing this wasn't happening.

"Oooooh! What a cute little doggie!" Hetty-Ann suddenly squealed, a furry orange thing that was lounging under a table. She pulled it out and tried to cuddle it, until it screamed-

"I'm not a dog! I'm a fox!" in a thick Brooklyn accent. It struggled free and lay down on the floor, front paws folded, in a huff.

"Oi, duck-beak! I'M the dog around here." Another animal had appeared from a chair, a Jack Russel Terrier, with a dog-sized mohican.

There was another girly sequeal from Hetty-Ann, which resulted in most of the Defenders covering their ears. Once the noise had stopped, they saw that Hetty was petting the Jack Russell so much her arm could have fallen off.

Thorne stepped forward and scooped up the dog, "Stop babying him,".

"Ooh, so he's your dog? I thought I saw a resemblance." said Hetty, pointing to the dog's attire, which was a canine version of Thorne's outfit.

_"I don't think this girl's the brightest lightblub in the socket"_, Shaiden thought. For some reason, she extremely disliked this girl, and couldn't quite work out why.

**A/N: Okay, quite a bad chapter, I didn't quite work out how this one would work. Hopefully the next chapter will be a lot better. Oh, and for future reference, the fox is Ballista's pet, Lily, and Thorne's dog is called Spike. They were both created by me and my friends Tia (TheBlazingOptomist) and Sarah (XxMungoteazerxX), both of whom have Splatalot fanfics posted on the site, check them out, they're EPIC!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well, here I am with another chapter, hopefully a lot better than the previous one. And I've recently got a B on an English exam, I may have got an A if I didn't make mistakes with my grammar and spelling. I personally don't see how my writing's at B/A standard.**

**Disclaimer: This nutter here does not own Splatalot, she's just an avid viewer of CBBC.**

"Woah...woahwoahWAAAAAAH!"

Kook was swaying and stumbling from the weight of Hetty-Ann's luggage, which he was carrying down the corridors of the Splatalot Castle, while the platypus trotted along behind, only carrying her pet carrier. They came to a stop in the corridor which homed the Defenders' bedrooms, girls' rooms on the left side, boys on the right. When sorting out Hetty's sleeping arrangements, they had no choice but to have her share with one of the girls. Shaiden wasn't considered, as she owned a pet snake, and according to Kook, Hetty had a fear of snakes. So it was a choice between Crocness, Ballista and Knightriss. Crocness offered, but her room was quite damp, not good for Hetty's perfect, sun-streaked hair. Ballista was happy to have her, but it turned out that the fox Hetty had harassed was Ballista's pet, Lily, and Lily got extremely moody and threatened to bite if she was in the same room as the platypus-girl. And Knightriss refused to share her room with her, but she still had to be pencilled in as a possible. So the three had to draw straws to decide. Knightriss got the short straw. Skabb had offered to bash the platypus on the head so she didn't have to go through with it, but she simply decided to grit her teeth and get through it.

Kook breathed a sigh of relief as he dumped down Hetty's many bags outside the door to Knightriss' room, he wasn't exactly gifted in the strength department.

"Um, Kooky, baby, can you?" Hetty said, tilting her head towards the bags, and then to the door.

Kook's shoulders dropped slightly, "Yes, Annie," he muttered and picked up her bags. Staggering under the sheer weight and with his hands in full use holding this huge load, he kicked the door, as opposed to knocking, "Knightriss, open up! Please!". There was the sound of unlocking and a door knob turning and Kook staggered in.

"Kookaburra, put those down on that side of the room," said Knightriss, pointing to an area she'd marked off. Kook gave a cry of relief as he threw the bags down.

"Yuck, this decor is sooooo boring!" Hetty complained as she stepped in. "No pink and no Twilight posters!"

She did have a point, for a girly, sassy, somewhat dim, girl like Hetty-Ann, Knightriss' blue and sliver colour scheme would look a bit uninteresting.

"Kookaburra, a word please," Knightriss said, leading him towards towards the doorframe. "Now, I am willing to tolerate this situation, even if it is not ideal-"

"I don't get it Knightriss, what's she done to you? All she did was call Skabb a few names. What's up with you and him anyway?"

"I don't know what you mean, my dear."

Kook felt the door hastily slam in his face. It was probably for the best that he wasn't going to be standing talking, he had some serious thinking to do and he really didn't want to put it off any longer. He crossed the corridor and entered his own room. It was like walking into a magical joke shop. Kook collapsed on his bed, which bore a huge resemblance to a nest.

"What's up Kook mate?" came a voice from above. It was Kook's pet kookaburra Wookie, who made his nest on top of a wardrobe.

Wookie fluttered down from his nest and nestled onto a pillow next to his owner.

"I dunno man, I'm in a massive spot of bother here," Kook replied.

"Did Thorne have a go at you again?"

"No,"

"Did Gildar's cat scratch your legs?"

"No."

"Did one of Tinkor's machines go haywire and hit you in the stomach?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"It's a long story, Wook."

"Well I got the time to listen, buddy."

"I just need to think on my own, bud, maybe I'll tell you later,"

Wookie nodded and ruffled his neck feathers, "Alright mate, I'll leave you be,". The tiny bird flew out of the open window.

Kook stared up at the ceiling, running things over and over in his mind and not getting anywhere at all...Hetty-Ann was his girlfriend of a few months, not exactly 'serious', they hadn't been in touch much because of his work and the distance. Then twomonths later, this thing about Shaiden had started, and he'd never felt like he did about her before. When he compared how he felt about Shaiden and how he felt about Hetty, well, Hetty was nothing, he loved Shaiden. But then, he didn't want to hurt Hetty's feelings by breaking up with her. He hated hurting peoples feelings (apart from the odd Attacker), that was just the way he was. So he was stuck, he wasn't in love with Hetty-Ann, but he hated to hurt her by breaking up, it was Shaiden whom he was in love with.

He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by an ear-splitting pyschopathic screech, "GET YOUR FILTHY PLATYPUS HANDS OFF MY TAKE THAT CDS!"

**A/N: Aaaah, this has got to be the worstly written chapter I've ever written. I can explain, I'm bad at writing about feelings. I'm not a great at feelings, or putting things into words. And pleasepleaseplease forgive me if using the word "pyschopathic" is offensive. I've suffered from pyschosis, no lies, so please don't think I'm some idiot. The media's just boggled my view of mental illness, which is quite confusing when you're suffering from mental health problems yourself.**

**Annnd the Take That thing, if you watched the show with UK commentary (the Dick and Dom version), you'd probably get it. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yeeeehaaaaw! Back for a fourth chapter. Blimey, I don't think I've ever wrote a fanfic this long (as I keep saying). Thanks so much for the reviews. And as I'm starting to write this on 10th October, may I say, Happy Birthday James Elmer (Kook)! :D Well, I heard 10th October was his birthday. Umm, James is epic anyway, well, so is the entire Splatalot cast. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Splatalot, I would have said something if I did.**

The next day, Kook was on Water Cannon duty. He was standing in the balcony that housed the Water Cannon, setting his thoughts on today's Attackers when the smell of hay caught his nostrils. He turned round and found Knightriss standing right behind him, looking more a lot vicious than usual.

"Aah, uh, hey Knight-"

"Don't 'hey' me Kookaburra! Do you know what your pathetic platypus subjected me to yesterday?" she hissed. "Ooooh! My Kooky is sooooooooooo amazing and I looooove him soooo much! Eeeeewww! You're soooo boring! And like, your music STINKS! And the lack of tanning here is KILLING MEEEEEEEE" And eeeeewwwwwww! You're like so evil it sucks and you're annoying and EEEEWWWW!"

Knightriss continued with this rather bad impersonation of Hetty-Ann for a further five minutes. Kook just let it wash over him.

"Thanks to her infernal whining and complaining, I was driven to sleep in the STABLES last night!"

_"Ah, that explains the smell,"_, Kook thought.

"I refuse to put with her anymore! I am NOT having another night like that! She'll drive me MAD!"

_"I thought she was already mad,"_

Knightriss turned on her heels and headed off to the Beastly Battleaxes, where she was on Vapouriser duty, but not before screaming "Find a different arrangement or else!".

Kook decided to beg Ballista to be roommates with Hetty later, he did not want to be on the receiving end of Knightriss' anger. He set his mind back on the Attackers, who were due to start crossing the moat in a few minutes. He noticed that whoever was on Splatzooka duty hadn't shown up yet. As if his mind was being read, Shaiden appeared at the Splatzooka station. Kook's face broke into a smile, he couldn't help it, the sight of Shaiden cheered him up no matter what his problems were. Thoughts about his situation started to plague his mind again, he became lost in thought until a cry of "BOGIES!" brought him back to reality. It was Slime Time.

**A/N: Okay, this chapter's slightly better than Chapter 3, but hopefully the next chapter will be loads better. :D**

**AND BLOODY HELL! I've just noticed how short this chapter is! Sorry about that.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Back again. Ah, see I didn't meantion how I never get this far in fanfics like I normally do! Haha! I win...I have no idea why I just said that. As a wise rainbow pony would say..."You're so random!". YAY! PONIES! :D**

**Disclaimer: Me no own Splatalot...sadly. :(**

The sky was painted a deep blue-grey. The midnight moon was covered by thick clouds. Sliver light reflected on the moat. The castle was bathed in darkness. High up, perched on one of the battlements, Shaiden was doing some serious thinking. She didn't know why, but she'd just felt sort of...annoyied since Hetty-Ann turned up, as if she was jealous. But why would she be jealous? It wasn't like she was in love with Kook or anything...

_Or maybe she was..._

Yes, she thought he was quite cute, and yes, she did think he'd be quite nice to have as a boyfriend. But well, it wasn't like she was crushing on him or anything. She quite liked him, she always felt concerned or sad when he was upset, she genuingly cared about him. You could say that, apart from her brother, he was the most important person in her life, but surely that was just as a friend, right?

Then it clicked in her head, she was in love with him. She, Shaiden, was in love with Kookaburra.

Normally, she wouldn't have minded. If Kook was single, she wouldn't mind telling him. But Kook was not single, he was with Hetty-Ann. Kook, the one thing she wanted more than anything, was out of reach. She couldn't have him. If she said anything to him, she could possibly be breaking up a relationship and she couldn't do that. Of course, in the first day of Hetty's visit, Kook had seemed, edgy, a bit awkward, but perhaps that was due to the shock of seeing his loved one turn up unexspectantly. For the past few days, whenever she was in the same room as Kook, he was smiling as if everything was fine. This told Shaiden that he was in fact in love with the platypus, and she was stuck having an unrequited love.

Rain started to fall heavly. Shaiden's face was wet, but it wasn't just from the rain.

She was crying.

**A/N: Blimey, writing this was quite upsetting. It made me feel so sad. Poor Shaiden, I hate to say that there'll be more chapters full of tears. Are things going to come out good in the end?...Spoilers.**

**Just realised that this chapter could be confusing, that's cause I'm writing through Shaiden's eyes, and not Kook's for a change. Still, if confused, feel free to message me.**

**I actually got this written in like, the space of an hour or so. That's a new record for me! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: *sniffs* That last chapter was so sad. And guess what, the new couple are going to be just as sad. Sorry, but that's just the my story plans turn out. Well, on with the show...uh, fic, uh, you know what I mean...**

Shaiden felt very blue and tired the next day, it had taken her ages to fall alseep the previous night, and when she had, she'd just have dreams about herself as a princess, trapped in a hour with no escape, and no prince to save her. It was just seemed so alien to Shaiden, so unlike her. She, fortunately, wasn't on duty today, which was good, because she didn't feel as if she could be around Kook without crying. Just being reminded about her situation...

She didn't necessarily want to be around Thorne either, he had that brotherly instinct that told him when his sister wasn't herself. Questions about how she was feeling wasn't what she needed right now, especially from her brother. She could just see him going up to Kook and attacking him after hearing her problems. Her brother was great when she had problems, but he couldn't help this time.

She decided to just spend the morning meditating, something she found very relaxing. If she need to be relaxed, now was the right time. Sat on the floor of her bedroom, she breathed...and breathed, just letting her mind go blank...

She was in a peaceful world of her own until some voices came from the corridor outside...

"Ah ha! Wookie!" a delicate voice said, though with a hint of anger. Shaiden could tell by the voice that it was Gildar's Persian cat, Precious.

"What's up Precious?" Wookie said.

"Don't act all friendly on me Wookie, Gildar's still upset about that mirror incident!"

"That was a week ago!"

"Your mean master better not pull anymore of those sassy stunts on Gildar today!"

"Right, firstly, Kook isn't mean, he's fun. And second, he hasn't been himself these last few days, he isn't likely to "sass" anybody today, whatever that means. What does sass mean anyway?"

The words "he hasn't been himself these last few days" brought Shaiden back to reality completely. Kook was upset? How could he be, he had Hetty-Ann on his back most of the day, wouldn't he be happy to get all that attention from the one he loved? And he was always smiling when Shaiden was around...

This didn't make any sense at all.

**A/N: Okay, bad chapter, but it's just an unplanned chapter, some chapters I have planned, and some I don't and have to write something quickly so I can write the chapters I have planned. And I didn't have much time to work on this chapter, I have holiday homework, and deadlines to met, and work experience forms to fill out.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: GG right here, and instead of writing short fics for my winter project, I'm writing this. But really, I've had writers block on this fic for ages and I just got over it. I'm aiming to get this fic finished before Christmas Day, as a sort of Christmas present for you guys...yay?**

That evening, Kook was taking a night flight. A bright orange glow in the distance was slowly disappering as the sky darkened. A cold wind blew threw Kook's hair and wing feathers. Flying was something Kook did a lot, it was normally because of enjoyment or a build up of happiness that he felt the need to express by taking to the sky. This time however, it was a chance for him to think about his dilemma. His love problems had been bugging him for days. It didn't matter how many times he thought about it, he never got anywhere. He closed his eyes and flew a few laps around the moat. He'd flown around various areas of the castle so many times he had learned to do it with his eyes shut, well, apart from the odd clumsy mistake every now and then.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been flying ith his eyes closed, but when he opened them again the sky had turned black, dotted with thousands of bright stars and a shining moon. While Kook loved the day, he found the night an amazing sight. It reminded him of her, Shaiden, mysterious and beautiful. He felt a slight stab of hurt in his heart thinking about Shaiden. Until he found the courage to break up with Hetty-Ann, he couldn't even dream of dating the ninja, not that she'd be interested in him anyway...

Kook swooped and flew lower. He circled the moat again. This time he thought he saw someone in the Splatzooka station. Kook fluttered closer by and saw it was Shaiden. She was slightly slumped and rubbing her eyes.

"Shaiden?"

Shaiden looked up, "Oh, hey Kook,", she said with a slight sniff.

"Something up, Shaiden?"

"No, no, Kook. It's just hayfever..."

Kook knew this wasn't true, Shaiden had spent numerous hours the previous summer surrounded by pollen without even so much as rubbing her eyes once. He perched himself on the edge of the Splatzooka station.

"Shaiden, you can tell me..."

"No, Kook, really, I-" she sighed sadly and looked down at her feet, "You wouldn't want to hear it anyway..."

"Course I do, you're me friend Shaiden, course I'll listen." It pained him slightly to call her a "friend", it pained him even more to see Shaiden upset.

Shaiden stayed slient for a few seconds.

"Is it Thorne, has he done sommat?"

"No, Kook, it's nothing like that. I'm just worked up over something, it's nothing." It was as if she didn't want to tell him something.

Kook put his hand hers and the ninja turned so she was looking straight at him, there were diamond-like tears staining her face.  
>She took a breath in, like she was building up courage, and said-<p>

"Kook, I-I love you..." crying more and more as each syllable escaped from her mouth.

The ninja was a sobbing mass of tears. Kook took her in a hug.

"P-Please don't hate me, Kook..." she sobbed into his chest.

"Why would I hate you?"

"Because you're in love with Hetty and there's me coming out with this and you'll just hate me!"

Kook held her tight. Now was the time to tell her the truth, he couldn't let her suffer like this..."Shaiden, I'm not in love with Hetty, I used to think I did but that was before I found that what proper love was, I noticed this beautiful, sweet intelligent and amazing girl, and that was you. I love you Shaiden."

"Oh Kook!" Shaiden threw her arms around his waist.

"I want to break up with Hetty but I dunno how, I don't wanna hurt her. It's...well, I'm just like that."

"There's nothing wrong with caring about other people's feelings Kook,"

"I know, I know. But I gotta tell her. Soon, and I mean soon."

**A/N: Woah! Emotional chapter much? I quite like this one. And uh...soppy romance...I read a lot of soppy fics and a common cliche storyline in my fics is the "emotional love confession" storyline. Yeah...I kinda suck like that. Derp muffins. :P**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Heeeeeey, yo yo, mah peeps, what up blood...remind me never to say that again. I must say, thanks for the reviews on the previous chapter, it's taught me not to use overly used stupid cliches in future fics. Sorry. But I'm not a writer at heart, drawing's my forte. But still, criticism noted. See, I can take criticism, I'm not a brat...I'll shut up now shall I?**

Shaiden's head was still slightly reeling from Kook's confession a week later. She couldn't really fit it in her head, as if it had been a dream. She'd felt guilty before about intruding on Kook and Hetty's love -or as it seemed now, unlove- and breaking it up. Now she felt...a bit like a ghost. She was on the sidelines of this love-triangle, and she couldn't step in for fear of making Kook look like some sort of loverat to everyone, which he wasn't.

She put down her slimestick as Splatalot's newest queen rejoiced with hyper cries of "WOOO! I IS YOUR SWEET LOLITA PEGASISTER QUEEEEN! I'M AWESOME! I'M AWESOME! WOO!". She'd been watching Kook whilst defending and he'd been half concentrating on his work, as if he was deep in thought. She was about to head into the castle when she heard-

"That was your your fault bird brain! We could have defeated her if you even bothered to splat her!"

"But-"

She turned to see Skabb shouting at Kook.

"She was stupid! A little more splatting from you and we could have defeated her!"

"But Skabb, I was tr-"

"Well you weren't trying hard enough!"

"I-"

She suddenly found herself striding over to them, "SKABB, WILL YOU STOP SHOUTING AT HIM!"

The ninja could be suprisingly loud at times. Loud enough to shut Skabb up, "We all have bad days. Kook's probably having one of those days." she said, quieter but with an angry tone. She knew what was getting Kook down...but she wasn't going to blurt that out to a stupid barbarian.

Skabb grunted and walked off leaving Shaiden and Kook alone.

"Thanks for that Shaiden,"

"No problem...Kook, if you don't mind me asking, you look...sad. Is something wrong?"

"What? No, no. Like yer said, it's just a bad day, Splatzooka wasn't working and-"

He was a terrible liar. There was no denying.

"Okay. I-I just feel I'm letting yer down Shaiden. This thing with Hetty-"

"Kook, I've told you, I can wait."

"But I just can't find the words, and I- well, I've told yer before, nothing new. It just plays on me mind, and then I think of you and it goes away, but then I think how much it's hurting you because it doesn't seem like I'm doing anything and-"

"Listen," Shaiden said, looking Kook in the eye. "I don't think you're not trying, you just care about not hurting people, and that's fine. I don't care how long it takes because you're worth waiting for," she wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug, "Okay?"

Kook returned the gesture. They just stood embraced in that hug for a few minutes, not wanting to break away but knowing they had too.

"I'm seeing her tonight, I'll tell her then."

"Just remember what I said, okay?"

A distant sound from the castle pulled them apart, if someone were to see them hugging given the situation...well, it wouldn't look good in their eyes. Shaiden gave him an encouraging smile and headed into the castle whilst Kook went another way.

**A/N: Woah, like the other chapters, this one, in my view...sucked. I have high expectations and writing emotions isn't my strong point. Hopefully the next chapter will be more...exciting. And to clear something up before it gets pointed out, that "you're worth waiting for" line...I didn't mean for that to come out like it was one of those "My love is deeper and wider and greater than infinity and stuff" lines...we had enough of those sort of lines last chapter. XD**

**Oh yeah! I said this would be finished by Christmas...it's now almost Feburary...sorry. I'll go hang my head in shame...or hang it in a basket of chip cobs, cause they taste better than shame by miles.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Aaaand crazy GG is back from an nine month break. Oh heck, I suck so much. Procrastination. I think that would be my Splat Fact, to be honest: Procrastinates a lot. Shame, I'd want my Splat Fact to be "Is an art ninja" or maybe "Aims to be the future Mrs Lansing-Gant". Because that's what I'd like it to be. Aaaah, shut up GG, stop banging on about your Splat Fact and do the writing!**

**...Fine well I'll...do the writing then...**

...

"So yeah, I were like "what?" and he was like "aaaah?" and I were like "neeeeh." and he were like "shut up yer dumbo" and I were like "shut up yerself" and he were like "ah just forget it, neeeeeh." And that's why yer never trust a kangaroo."

"Oh really?" Ballista said, completely uninterested. Why did she let Kook convince her to take Hetty-Ann on as her room-mate? She was a complete pain in the splatbow, she just wouldn't shut up.

"And don't even get me started on koalas." Hetty continued with her ramblings, oblivious to Ballista's uninterest.

Ballista continued to fake an interest and went back to filing her nails, wondering just how much longer the platypus pain would be staying at Castle Splat.

"So yeah. Anyway, super bonzas, Kooky's taking me out tonight."

"Yeah, I know, you mentioned that, like, twelve times today." Ballista thought as Hetty squealed with such enthusiasm that her pet lap-platypus leaped from her grasp and scrambled under a table squeaking uncontrollably.

"Aaaah! Perri! Momma's soooorrrry. So like anyway, he loves me soooo much and I wuv him so much and Kooky's my little snuggawuggahugglepie!-"

Ballista was on the verge of vomiting, she couldn't bare overly lovey-dovey talk. She was regretting interfering when Kook had told her he had a crush on Shaiden, if she hadn't, she probably wouldn't be going through this hell.

"-And did I ever mention how much I wuv him?"

The huntress grabbed one of her tartan covered pillows and rammed it over her ears and yelled, "Shut up with the love stuff, outbacker!"

...

Kook nervously paced the stone paving as he waited for Hetty-Ann, his eyes occasionally moving to the small remains of puddles in the corners of the stones. He was breaking up with her today, he wasn't going to let hurting her feelings get in the way. He repeated his planned strategy on how he was going to do this over and over in his head.

Be firm. Just say "Hetty, I'm sorry but I've been thinking, and don't think things are gonna work out. I think we should break up and go our separate ways". Don't chicken out, you're not a chicken, you're a kookaburra. And don't lose your nerve. Be firm. Ju-

"Kooooooky! Kooooky! Hi-AAAAAAAAAAH!"

Kook's train of thought was broken by the sound of the platypus tottering up the purple flagstones, repeatedly tripping over her own large webbed feet and falling flat on her face. She picked herself up and skipped over to Kook.

"Heeeey Kook."

"Hiya Hetty," Kook replied, rather awkwardly, more focused on digging up every ounce of nerve inside of him to prepare him for what he was about to do, "y'alright?"

"Yeeeah, I'm okay, well, actually no, cause I chipped one of me nails and it's really eeewww and that blondie won't even let me use her nail tools to fix it. Just cause I stepped on a few of her hunty sticks. Sooooo, where are going out?"

"Do it now Kook, say it now, do it before you chicken out, say it, go go go," his mind was buzzing at him. But he couldn't do it. It was easy to be mean defending the Stockade or the Moat, you didn't know Attackers or how and what they felt. If you knew someone, you were far more aware of their feelings and how they'd react to something. That nagging thought of "well, you could make her very upset, and she'd probably hurt you a lot." It was pathetic and Kook was sick of his brain pulling that stunt.

"Kooky, are you even listening to me?!"

"H-"

"I said you better not be taking me on your usual joke shop and dancing dates, because they're like really boring and weird," the platypus scuffed the ground with her foot, "Y'know what Kooky? I'm getting sick and tired of you being so weird. Like, why can't y' be normal?" she huffed.

Kook wondered what on earth had attracted him to her in the first place, he guessed it was immaturity, how he had been able to see past her rather ugly true colours was beyond him.

"Well seeing as that's what you think, this seems like the right time to-"

"Neugh", Hetty continued to rant as Kook tried to interrupt, "Why can't you come back to the South?"

"You know I can't move back down south, Defender duty calls-"

"That's another thing, you and your little friends are weirdos. More than weird, they're crazy! Like, the savage is dumb, that knight's a psycho, the robo-guy's all...crazy and then there's the blonde one she thinks she's soooo pretty when she's not, I'm like way prettier than her,"

Kook felt some flames of anger start to burn inside of him, "D'you mind, those are my friends you're talking about," he said trying to calm his inner flames, rage and anger didn't come natural to him and he would rather have avoided it at all costs, it was just out of character for him.

"Like, don't talk to me like that Kook! They're lameos! I mean, that guy with the mohawk, like who does he think he is? He looks so stupid. And that blue one, she just acts all silent- is she mute or something?-" she made a noise that sounded like a combination of a snort and a laugh, "-She's got to be the most loser-ish of the lot, or one of the biggest, because they're all losers."

Kook's heart jerked, that comment had sent a flood of offence running through his body. His attempts at calmness were useless now, "Y'know, that's the final straw. I was going to try and do this nicely but after that, well you're not really worth that sort of consideration, not when you can insult someone's friends like that to their faces-"

"Like Kook, it's so the truth. And like, what are you talking about?"

"It's over."

"What's oveeerrrr?"

"Us. I don't have feelings for you anymore. And even if I did have feelings for you, I wouldn't have any now, not after that display."

He knew he what he was saying may have been considered mean and that he could have been more caring in his approach, but those insults had really ruffled his feathers. It hurt to hear things like that said about his friends, let alone about Shaiden. He took those things to heart and it hurt. He could hear the child-like whines emitting from the platypus and wanting to avoid hearing anymore of her stupid and ignorant nonsense, turned and walked away.

**A/N: Heheh, surprise. You thought this fic was dead, didn't you? I could never let my fics go dead, I hate finding a good fic that's turned dead, it's like finding a novel with half its pages ripped out. I really can't stress how sorry I am guys. Let's just say this fic was in a cryogenic sleep for a bit...yeah, I like the sound of that. I didn't mean to not update, it's just that I've had writer's block and a big old distraction called Tumblr...and I could say my minor anxiety condition stops me writing on some days but that sounds stupid and no one would believe me. But I admit it was mainly Tumblr.**

**Heck, I feel terrible. I haven't updated for nine months and all I can produce is something rather badly written (ah, my eyes burn from the OOCness). I really hate writing anything with dialogue or emotions, my social understanding is very impaired, I know it's not an excuse but I guess I'm using it as an excuse. It's something I do drastically need to improve on, but if I were to go out and learn social skills you'd have been waiting here for another 17 months or so to get an update. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out soon. Now please excuse me as I have a Shaiden cosplay I need to finish sewing. Um, Happy Halloween if you celebrate, I mean, I'm not very keen on it myself but um...yeah. *tumbles off***


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